Huo Zongzhu handed him a glass of milk, concern in his voice. “Didn’t sleep well last night?”
“Mm.”
Jiang Luo yawned again, taking a sip.
“What’s wrong? You drank so much last night, and now you still can’t sleep?”
Jiang Luo shook his head, feeling sleepy. “Who knows…”
He hadn’t eaten much. Propping his head up, his eyelids kept drooping while his gaze kept drifting toward Huo Zongzhu across the table.
Half-asleep, he kept staring at him, wondering: what’s going on? Is there something wrong with him? What’s happening?
He was so drowsy he didn’t realize he had been staring at Huo Zongzhu’s eyelashes and lips.
Especially his lips—at one point, he stared for quite a while, thinking how nice they looked: not too thin, not too full, the color perfect… kissing them must feel…
Jiang Luo jolted, shocked at his own thoughts. He quickly looked away, shaking his head. What am I thinking?
After breakfast, they headed to the new factory. Huo Zongzhu drove again. Jiang Luo, feeling too tired, feared he wouldn’t last the ride, so he asked Huo Zongzhu to stop at a random café along the way. He ran inside to grab coffee while Huo Zongzhu waited by the car.
He bought two cups—one for himself, one for Huo Zongzhu.
Stepping out with the coffee, he started walking toward the car, and when he looked up, he froze.
Across the street, Huo Zongzhu had gotten out and was leaning against the car, watching him.
It was a sunny weekend in Shenzhen. People filled the streets. Between them were cars, pedestrians, and a mother holding a little girl with two pink balloons.
Under the sunlight, everything was bright and colorful.
A perfectly ordinary scene—blue sky, sun, traffic, people, a little girl with pink balloons, Huo Zongzhu waiting by the car.
But when Jiang Luo’s eyes met Huo Zongzhu’s, his heart skipped two beats, and those beats echoed in his chest and ears, thumping clearly: thump thump… thump thump…
I like him.
The realization came suddenly, without warning, like lightning from the sky.
Jiang Luo didn’t even know how he made it to the car, faced Huo Zongzhu, or what he said as he got in.
Sitting in the passenger seat, drinking his coffee, staring out the window, his mind raced: I like Huo Zongzhu?
I actually like him?
Like him?
It felt utterly unbelievable.
In his previous life, he never took love, relationships, or sincerity seriously—except for trusting Wang Chuang and his parents, he had no real friends.
Even in this life, though he had woken up and longed for true feelings, he was still, in essence, a “bad student.” He didn’t understand love or affection, liking or disliking.
Yet now, he found he actually liked Huo Zongzhu.
Himself… liking… Huo Zongzhu?
He couldn’t believe it—more incredible than the day Huo Zongzhu had given him a brand-new factory.
He sipped coffee in slow, deliberate sips, trying to digest it.
Then he thought it through: it made perfect sense. Huo Zongzhu had been way too good to him.
Even at the very beginning, their first encounter, Huo Zongzhu had been kind—whether covering him with a coat when he slept by the Huangpu River, or lending him money for a bet at the Jing’an office.
Not to mention how their relationship grew closer and closer, culminating in Huo Zongzhu giving him a brand-new factory.
Jiang Luo, who had never received love as a child, reborn and yearning for it, could not help but fall for someone who gave him genuine affection.
It felt logically sound, yet also astonishing.
He had fallen in love with Huo Zongzhu—the man he had once admired from afar.
No wonder he wanted to be close, to sit shoulder to shoulder.
No wonder Huo Zongzhu had set up a home on Wukang Road, and he hadn’t hesitated to move in.
No wonder… all those little details he would never experience with other men seemed so natural with Huo Zongzhu.
Jiang Luo drank his coffee, alternating sips with bursts of bittersweet happiness—he had someone he liked. Huo Zongzhu.
Finally, his heart had a direction this lifetime.
Huo Zongzhu spoke as he drove, but Jiang Luo was lost in his own thoughts, barely listening.
He kept turning to watch Huo Zongzhu’s profile—eyebrows, nose, lips—familiar yet entirely lovable. He wanted to reach out, tilt his chin, and kiss him, screaming in his mind: Huo Zongzhu, do you know? I like you! I like you!
Suddenly, he wasn’t tired at all. His heart swelled with joy.
He had someone he liked.
He liked Huo Zongzhu.
From then on, on the way to the factory, his attention was completely consumed by Huo Zongzhu—driving, speaking, walking through the workshop—Jiang Luo barely noticed anything else, only gazing at him, wanting to see more, like it more, feeling happy.
Huo Zongzhu!
The man he liked!
“I like Huo Zongzhu!”
“Jiang Luo? Jiang Luo?”
He snapped back. “Huh?”
Huo Zongzhu noticed something was off. “What’s wrong? You’ve been staring at me.”
“Nothing,” Jiang Luo quickly changed the subject. “Did we check the garment warehouse? Let’s go there.”
Oh my god…
He was in love with Huo Zongzhu!
Jiang Luo felt ecstatic.
Even better, their relationship was already closer than ordinary friends.
They spent New Year together, lived together, shared everything, even “collaborated in mischief.”
Huo Zongzhu had gone so far as to give him a factory early—a clear sign of his deep feelings.
What could be more thrilling than that?
Jiang Luo felt confident. At this pace, being truly together with Huo Zongzhu was only a few steps away.
No—he was already together with him. They just hadn’t exchanged the words “I like you” or “I love you” like normal couples.
In Jiang Luo’s eyes, their relationship was even better than some couples’.
Which other man would give his girlfriend a whole factory?
Huo Zongzhu did.
The thought made him giddy. Huo Zongzhu giving him the factory, introducing him to the Zhou clan business owners—this attention, this care—was equivalent to saying I like you without saying a word.
The words I like you were simple. What Huo Zongzhu did was much harder.
In essence, it was Huo Zongzhu doing > I like you, effectively saying I like you.
Jiang Luo grinned inwardly, over the moon.
From the factory, in the passenger seat, Jiang Luo watched Huo Zongzhu and smiled foolishly.
Back at the hotel, sitting beside him on the sofa, same thing.
On the plane leaving Shenzhen, sitting together, still watching him smile.
Back in the office, alone, he leaned in his chair with legs propped on the desk, still grinning to himself.
Wang Chuang walked in with some papers, closing the door behind him. Seeing Jiang Luo smiling alone, confused, he approached. “What’s up?”
“Your wife had a baby?”
Handing over the papers: “Check out the shipment volume of our top-selling designs. Summer stock is in progress too. See if the production floor needs to adjust quantities. Also, this one—Vilanido…”
Jiang Luo lowered his legs, scooted closer to the desk, motioning for Wang Chuang to lean in.
“Hmm?”
Leaning close, Wang Chuang listened. Jiang Luo whispered mysteriously: “I have someone I like now.”
“What!?”
Wang Chuang’s eyes went wide. “Who? That girl last time—what was her name, Yu? She wore a skirt, really pretty?”
Jiang Luo rolled his eyes, snatched the papers Wang Chuang had handed him, and lightly tapped his head. “What girl? I’m telling you something important, and you don’t even listen!”
“I never told you I liked men?”
“Ah!?”
Wang Chuang was stunned.
Looking at Jiang Luo, whispering: “You… you… I…”
He lowered his voice further. “I thought you were joking, okay?”
Jiang Luo glared. “I really like men. Who is it?”
“Someone in our factory?”
Wang Chuang’s voice trembled. “It can’t be your secretary, Xiao Lu… or one of those ex-con driver bodyguards… who is it?”